Challenges
by AnonymousLullaby
Summary: All written for the Warriors Challenge Forum; current challenge: The Real Kittypet Challenge, Chapter 3.
1. IPod Shuffle Challenge

**Author's Note:**

The basis of this challenge (posted by the Warrior Challenge Forum) is to finish an excerpt-type piece before whichever song that has been brought up on shuffle ends. It's a lot of fun and I highly recommend trying it out!

(.net/topic/106930/59235780/1/-the link, if you're interested)

Thank you so much for stopping by, any and all feedback is appreciated and I hope you enjoy these few snippets! =]

Love, AL

* * *

**Do Re Mi – The Sound of Music (Original Motion Picture Cast)**

The morning air was cool and the sun, a plump bulb emerging from behind the mountains to greet the sleepy world. Fawnpaw watched in awe as the forest came to life, illuminated by the pale golden light cast upon the land.

"Listen closely, Fawnpaw," Leafsong meowed gently. The young she-cat met her mentor's warm green gaze, her paws tingling with the thrill of utter wonderment.

"Close your eyes and listen to the forest-to the land and the leaves and the life thriving beneath our paws. This is all that we are. This is our home."

**Simple Song – The Shins**

"Hunting was a bad idea. We really need to get back. The clan could need us. What is the camp is attacked?" Patchpool meowed anxiously, his pale gaze forlorn and fixated upon the daring she-cat whose fur never seemed capable of lying flat.

"By what, flying hedgehogs?" Wildrose snorted, her blue eyes gleaming with the promise of adventure, "I didn't really invite you out here to hunt anyway. You need to relax Patchpool. You need to let it go, you—you need to run!"

"_What?" _

"Come on deputy!" the tortoiseshell teased and took off across the moors, "come on and catch me!"

**Each Coming Night – Iron &Wine**

He had never believed them, for he had never understood. All logic slipped away with the rest of the world and only one thing remained—love. It was nowhere near the warm affection he felt toward his clanmates. It was far from the feverish passion that coursed from his nose to the tip of his tail at the mere sight of the pale gray tabby that had captured his heart.

It was a fierce, but delicate love and he wished to savor every last bit as he gazed down upon the warm, squealing bundles nestled in the moss beside their mother. A pair of blue eyes found his gaze-pale, tender eyes.

As night descended upon the earth he finally believed them, for he finally understood what it meant to be a father.

**O Maria! – Sea Wolf**

"Show me your true colors-that's all I'm asking of you Spiderstripe!" Silverdew pleaded with a tinge of desperation.

The dark tabby met her sincere gaze, his eyes dull from the sorrow of defeat. Spiderstripe knew that the time had come, that he was finally losing her. "That's what you don't understand Silverdew," he meowed quietly, "I've only ever been myself around you."

Spiderstripe watched as Silverdew began to register his remark. He would steal the stars for the slender she-cat, and Spiderstripe knew by the look in her eyes, that she longed to love him too but would never truly feel the same. He knew that his clanmates had been right. She would never be enough for her.

**Little Willow – Paul McCartney**

Stoneswallow studied the dainty kit asleep in a nest of ferns, finally free of the perpetual stares of her clanmates. The gray she-cat's chest tightened with the panic that often accompanies complete and utter loss. Gone, her best friend…gone, leaving her sole kit to RiverClan just as she had left a gaping hole in Stoneswallow's soul.

The scrap of fur was tiny-a pale tabby, with a coat of white and cream. Stoneswallow crouched down and gently pressed her nose to the she-kit's downy flank, her heart filled with anguish but her eyes radiating love. "You are all that I have now," the gray warrior murmured, "you are all that's left of her. Life will not be easy…not here, not in this clan..."

Stoneswallow's meow softened to a whisper as she closed her weary eyes, "you are special, Willowkit, you are loved…and I will protect you."


	2. Character Challenge

**Author's Note:**

This story was written for the Character Challenge (posted by the Warrior Challenge Forum) and the goal was to write a piece based on an assigned mary-sue or plain-type character.

Again, it was tons of fun, I definitely recommend it! =]

(.net/topic/106930/59235780/1/-the link, if you're interested)

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story!

Sincerely,

AL

* * *

A slight breeze antagonized the budding leaves that hung down low over the opening of the elder's den-the gentle winds pushed and pulled at the overhang so that every few moments the elderly cats were stunned by the chilled morning air but graced with glimpses of a crisp blue sky.

"Stupid wind, rufflin' up mah stupid fur," a sand-colored tom muttered crossly, pulling his frail limbs tighter and closer to the center of his body. "It would be much warmer in the sun," a white tabby sang as she rose up out of the tangled moss to stretch her long, slender limbs.

The tom buried his startlingly pink nose into his speckled coat and angrily muttered an incoherent reply. The she-cat chuckled softly and tucked the feathers of her own nest against the tom's thin, shivering pelt before padding out into the jubilant light of day. Her muscles tingled with warmth as the pleasant sunlight washed over her long, dusty coat, alluding to pale tabby stripes of gray. The she-cat plopped down in the sun and watched with wonderment as dust particles flew up into the air and caught the light as they slowly drifted back into place.

"Twistedface! Twistedface!"

Out of the corner of her better eye, the she-cat caught the shadowed movements of three small figures. A purr escaped from her throat as the eager bundles bounded toward her, kicking up grains of sand as they churned their little legs. "Good morning dear ones," the white she-cat purred, delighted.

"Good morning Twistedface!" a gray kit, who had reached her first, blurted cheerfully as his littermates came up alongside him. A tabby she-kit, squirming with excitement, opened her mouth to greet the scarred elder when she was interrupted by her mother's firm meow, "Beechkit, Aspenkit, and Cloudkit get your tails over here! What did I tell you about leaving the nursery?"

Aspenkit shuffled his storm-colored paws and whined, "But…but-"

"No," the black she-cat's head stuck out of the nursery and her sleepy green eyes were narrowed at her kits, "no buts. I was up all night helping Streamwhisker and you're not allowed out with all of the warriors on patrol."

Aspenkit's pale gray tail drooped and he exchanged a defeated glance with his sister when a gray and white tom-kit cried out persistently, "but Twistedface is out here, can't she watch us while you take a nap?"

"I may be old," the white she-cat rasped good-naturedly, "but I can still keep a couple of kits in line."

Their mother glanced from her litter to the elder uneasily, untrusting of the white cat's scarce vision and gnarled frame. After a few moments, exhaust got the best of the black queen and she gave up with a sigh, "Fine…fine. Wake me if you need something."

Her weary head disappeared back into the nursery and her kits squealed with triumph. "Nice job Cloudkit!" Aspenkit meowed ecstatically and his brother puffed out his chest with pride. "It was nothing," the mottled tom boasted, "you had clearly given up so someone had to step in."

"Given up? I'll show you what it looks like to give up!" the dark gray kit playfully growled, pouncing up to tackle down his littermate. Beechkit dismissed her foolish brothers with a flick of her mud-colored tail and affectionately placed a small paw on the elder's forearm, "Twistedface, will you tell us a story?"

The white she-cat was warmed by how accepting the young kits were of her frightening appearance and a _mrrw _of laughter escaped her as the two toms froze mid-wrestle when she meowed, "of course. What would you like to hear about?

"Romance!" Beechkit meowed, her pale green eyes wistful.

Aspenkit shook his head and replied, "Battle!"

"No, no, leadership! And bravery!" Cloudkit cried and rolled out from under his brother.

"Well, you're in luck," Twistedface meowed softly, "I know just the story that has all three."

The kits' eyes shone with excitement as they settled down beside the white she-cat. Twistedface cherished the warmth of the sun on her pelt for just a moment longer before she leaned her head in closer to the kits and began to tell her tale.

"_Many moons ago, this very clan had suffered through one of the hardest Leaf-Bares that the forest had ever seen. The lake had frozen over, the frost killed all of the undergrowth-with no prey or herbs, our warriors starved and our elders grew ill. RiverClan was not the only one to struggle either; the other three clans had grown just as weak. All quarrels between the clans ceased, because no one had the strength or energy to fight. _

_Finally, New-Leaf began but the clans had grown small and the cats were too ill to hunt…and every cat in RiverClan was but another case of green cough away from giving up hope. _

…_Until they received a sign. On the third moonrise of New-Leaf the only queen, in perhaps all the forest gave birth to a litter of three-_not unlike the three of you-_but two of the kits were too weak and joined the ranks of StarClan before the sun rose. The third kit went unnamed for a long time; for the clan feared that she would die as well. After a moon the kit was healthy and strong and RiverClan was hopeful once again, because this new life meant the clan would once again prosper. _

_The kit was given the name Shiningkit, for every night her mother would pray to StarClan to protect her daughter, and every night the little she-kit's silver tabby stripes would catch the moonlight and cause her white coat to glow-"_

"What a pretty name," Beechkit sighed contently, dragging her tabby tail back and forth in the dust.

"Where's the battle?" Aspenkit complained and then gave a squeak of alarm as a small bee swayed in the air above his nose. "I'll get it!" Cloudkit muttered mischievously and raised a paw, ready to bat the bumbling insect away when the tip of a white tail flicked the dizzy thing off into the distance. "That was fast!" Cloudkit marveled, squinting to find where the bee had landed.

"Course she's fast." the four cats turned to see speckled tom emerge from the elder's den with tiny gray downy feathers clinging to his thin pelt. "She was the fastest hunter in all the lake-side," Speckledsand grumbled as he sat down beside Twistedface.

The white elder stole an affectionate glance at the pale ginger tom before succumbing the kits' persistent mews. "Where was I? Oh, oh yes…

"_Shiningkit proved her skill time and time again, and grew into a loyal RiverClan cat. The warrior code was her life, and after moons of perseverance the young cat was rewarded with the warrior name Shiningfaith. Upon becoming a warrior, Shiningfaith felt as if she were the warm center of the world-she felt a fierce affection toward her clanmates and their warrior ancestors…and above all, her best friend. Shiningfaith and Mottledblossom had a connection forged by the stars themselves. The two she-cats were closer than any littermates could ever be, and Shiningfaith often felt incapable of living in a reality without the warmth of her dappled brown friend._

_The clans were prosperous, and life was pleasant…but when Mottledblossom announced that she was pregnant, Shiningfaith found that all things were temporary. In the back of her mind, the slender she-cat worried that she would lose her best friend. Already Mottledblossom had experienced a type love which was foreign to Shiningfaith, and she feared the birth of her best friend's kits would force a permanent rift between them. _

_As Mottledblossom moved into the nursery, Shiningfaith was given her first apprentice-a zealous ginger tom with an aptitude for battle. One afternoon, after returning from a training session, Shiningfaith was approached by the RiverClan deputy, Clawstripe. The gray and black tabby was large, with muscles that rippled beneath a short-furred pelt and dark, brooding eyes that pierced the soul. His flanks were littered with pale pink scars…and he was very handsome-handsome in the way that all established warriors appeared to be to the young and inexperienced. _

"_Shiningfaith...there's something that I need to ask of you," the valiant deputy meowed abruptly._

"_Yes?" Shiningfaith replied, trying to mask the nervous beating of her spastic hear with a calm tone and a cool gaze. "I've noticed that you are quite skillful…you serve our clan with complete loyalty and dedication, and I know that you would do anything to keep RiverClan safe…"_

"_Yes, I would," the pale tabby nodded, acutely aware of Clawstripe's unusual demeanor. _

"…_which is why I'm going to have to tell you something that you might not want to hear, but the clan is in great danger and you're the only one I trust to-"_

"_What is it Clawstripe?" Shiningfaith blurted impatiently, forcing herself not to shrink away from the massive tabby after the embarrassment of her outburst set in. The RiverClan deputy paid no mind to her impatience and leaned to press his muzzle against the long white fur just below Shiningfaith's ear. She grew rigid as he whispered, "ShadowClan is planning an attack on our camp. I overheard Stonestar gossiping on a border patrol…they want to take the marshes at the edge of our territory."_

"_That doesn't make sense," Shiningfaith reared her head back in surprise, her bright blue eyes to the brim with worry, "Half of the marshes are WindClan's, why attack us? And why marshes? The land is poor and the prey is nothing like what ShadowClan has now."_

"_Shh," Clawstripe warned with a flick of his tail before softly adding, "they wouldn't dare go through ThunderClan to get to WindClan's side of the marshes…but territory isn't all that they're after. Mottedblossom's kits…well, Tigerstorm isn't the father."_

_Shiningfaith's heart skipped a beat as time stood still. Her beautiful reality melted further with every word. "Listen, Shiningfaith, listen," Clawstripe soothed, remaining calm despite the shock that crept across her pretty face, "she has been seeing a ShadowClan tom named Crossfoot…he's next in line for deputy, once Darksplash retires…and he's been encouraging a takeover for the sake of his new kits as well."_

_Shiningfaith shook her head, unfamiliar with the hollow meow that rolled off of her tongue, "you're wrong, Clawstripe. You're wrong. Mottledblossom would never lie to me. ShadowClan would never go after our camp."_

"_Listen," the dark tabby soothed once more, "you're an incredible warrior, Shiningfaith, but sometimes you trust _too _much. Not every cat follows the warrior code with their life, sometimes they make mistakes. Mottledblossom made a mistake…and now only you can help our clan."_

_The news shook Shiningfaith's very core, it went against every principle she ever believed in-it ate away at her insides and made her feel cold and empty and _lied _to. Her ice-blue eyes met Clawstripe's amber gaze and she meowed quietly, shaken, "what could I possibly do? Why don't you tell Shellstar about any of this? She would know what to do…"_

_Clawstripe shook his head, "Shellstar won't listen, she doesn't understand…but you're so close to Mottledblossom, I thought that you would want to protect her. That's why…you need to kill Stonestar."_

_Shiningfaith almost cried out in alarm, but she held herself together. "Clawstripe, this is ridiculous! I, kill a leader? The warrior code-"_

"_The warrior code says to do what is best for the clan, and this is best for our clan! Stonestar is on his last life and you're quick on your paws. We will fight ShadowClan, we will protect Mottledblossom, but _you _need to make sure that Stonestar will never be able to harm us again."_

_Shiningfaith felt paralyzed with fear, she-"_

"I'm hungry."

"Speckledsand!" Beechkit squealed in outrage.

"What?" the pale tom questioned gruffly and sat up to stretch his aching forelimbs. "It was just getting good," Aspenkit complained alongside his flustered sister.

Twistedface chuckled, "no, no, Speckledsand is right; it is about time to eat. Why don't you three fetch something nice to share from the fresh-kill pile?"

Cloudkit's tagged his brother with the tip of his tail and turned to flee, calling back, "last one to the fresh-kill pile is a rotten snail!"

His littermates bounded after him instantly, fueled with the fierce determination to make the gray and white tom feel the wrath of his own proposed insult. "Shiningfaith's story? That's quite an interesting choice," Speckledsand commented softly. Twistedface refused to meet his gaze. She stared out at the open camp ground, a tinge of concern beginning to seep down into her fur. "I wonder why none of the patrols are back yet-Smallstep and Heronblaze took their apprentices to train just after dawn…and the morning patrol hasn't returned either…and those little tortoiseshell and tabby sisters went off hunting right after them. Not one has walked through that entrance since and it's almost past sun-high," the scarred elder fretted, eyeing the shapes of the kits dragging the prey across the camp.

"Don't worry," the pale ginger tom meowed quietly as the kits drew closer, "they're probably pulling back-to-back patrols, since Palewillow hasn't returned from the Moonpool yet."

Twistedface glanced at him uneasily, but put their conversation aside as the kits reached the two elders. The kits presented them with a plump water vole, its flanks covered in a thin layer of dust from being dragged. "Race you, again!" Cloudkit cried once more as he shot back to grab another piece for him and his littermates to share. Aspenkit and Beechkit followed with less enthusiasm and the trio soon returned with a stale finch. "Why was Clawstripe acting so weird?" Aspenkit inquired as he settled down before his prey.

"Is Shiningfaith gonna do it? Is she gonna kill Stonestar?"

Beechkit wacked Cloudkit over the head with her dainty brown paw, "don't be silly! Shiningfaith wouldn't kill another cat!" The tabby she-kit then asked sheepishly, "…would she?"

"Well," Twistedface purred and swallowed a bite of the vole before launching back into her story,

"_Shiningfaith had spent many sleepless nights thinking about these exact same questions-was she capable of killing someone? Was it really best for the clan? Would her best friend actually lie to her? She had too many questions, and not enough answers. The young she-cat knew that she hadn't much time, and thoughts were forced into actions when the camp was attacked on a balmy Green-Leaf night. _

_Just as Clawstripe had said, ShadowClan warriors poured into the RiverClan camp, breaking through protective bramble barriers, their pelts dripping after the swim across the stream. Shiningfaith didn't understand, she didn't know what to do. The loyal warrior caught a glimpse of her frightened, pregnant friend fleeing from the nursery and her heart hardened with the burden of duty. It was at that moment she decided to seek Stonestar out from the crowd, and kill the very cat that had compromised the safe haven of her clan's camp._

_The large dark gray tom stood back from the fighting in the shadows of the dens. Shiningfaith leapt at the coward, disgusted by the tom's inability to lead his own clan. Stonestar's body fell limply to the ground. His eyes, the color of honey in a dull light, were sad and weary. _

"_Why is this happening?" he whispered from under the white warrior, and Shiningfaith clamped her jaws shut and pulled her head back from his neck in surprise. She shook her head, utterly confused, "what do you mean? You did this!"_

_Stonestar's fur was patched with white from where his coat was fading in color under the combined stress of age and leadership, his eyes drooped and his desperate meow was low, "this wasn't me. Nothing is me anymore. No, this was them. Kill me. Finish me off-so that my clan will finally be free of its pitiful leader."_

_Shiningfaith's heart jumped with the shock of realization. She craned her neck back to scan the mass of fighting cats, catching a glimpse of Shellstar's cream-colored flank. Mottledblossom was nowhere to be found, and neither was a certain RiverClan deputy. Stonestar remained limp beneath her, and made no attempt to overpower the slender warrior. Slowly, her dainty paws slipped from the gray tom's body and the ShadowClan leader curled up onto his side, frail and hopeless and ready to die. _

_It was there that Shiningfaith left him, unscathed, before launching herself through the battle to find the cat that had been behind the violence all along. Blood and patches of fur splattered the ground, blood and patches of fur splattered her white coat. _

"_Kill him."_

_Shiningfaith spun around to meet the cat she'd been looking for. The massive tabby's fur was matted with blood, and his claws glistened crimson under the pale light of the moon. "You're a liar! Stonestar never wanted this attack-this was you!"_

_Clawstripe stood silent, proud. "Why?" she whispered desperately, backing into a crouch._

_The RiverClan deputy's laughter was tainted with the same derangement that shone in his eyes, "everyone will die-Stonestar, Darksplash, Crossfoot-and then ShadowClan will yield themselves to me!"_

_Shiningfaith shook her head, unwilling to believe such a reality, "but Shellstar, but…"_

_He didn't have to finish the sentence. Shiningfaith hadn't seen the RiverClan leader's lithe form since she had left Stonestar on the edge of the camp. Clawstripe didn't have to explain. A fury, which she had never before experienced, overcame the young cat and her neck fur bristled with anger. "Why me?" she growled, thinking of Mottledblossom…the dear friend she might never see again. _

"_You were the perfect piece in my plan," Clawstripe laughed, bowling her over with a swipe of his massive paw. Her small frame struggled beneath his weight and her limbs twisted as she tried to escape. Clawstripe leaned in close and whispered in a sinister tone, his breath hot on her ears, "you would do _anything _for the sake of RiverClan."_

"_You're right!" Shiningfaith yowled and then raked her claws along the deputy's underbelly, forcing the tabby to jump back and stumble into the dust. "I _would_ do anything_ _to protect my clan, which is why I _have _to do this!" she cried, slightly deranged herself and fueled by the desire to protect the ones she loved. She jumped up, and as her slender body sailed through the air, the moonlight hit her pale tabby stripes and she glowed like a member of StarClan-radiating light an-"_

"Oh, Palewill-er, Palestar is back."

"Speckledsand!" Beechkit squealed once more, but this time her littermates joined in on the outraged cries.

"What?" the ginger tom frowned and sat up as RiverClan's new leader padded into their camp, his head held high.

Aspenkit and Cloudkit shifted their gazes to the small patrol of cats padding into the camp, but Beechkit sulked with her back to the entrance. "That was the best part of the story!" the tiny tabby quietly whined, her meow heavy with disappointment. Twistedface gently rested the tip of her tail on the she-kit's shoulder and spoke softly, "your father has returned."

At that, the young kit lifted her head to see a large dark tabby emerging from the undergrowth behind Palestar. Aspenkit and Cloudkit's eyes shone with admiration and the two brothers kneaded the dry earth, itching to greet their father. Beechkit remained more reserved, although there was no denying the excitement lingering within her. Twistedface remained stoic, her blank eyes following the familiar form of the recently deceased Shellstar's son.

Beechkit glanced up at Twistedface, her green eyes earnest as she asked, "What happened to Shiningfaith?"

Aspenkit and Cloudkit turned to the elder, hoping for the answer as well. Twistedface let out an affectionate sigh as she summarized the young warrior's tale, "_Unfortunately, Shiningfaith did not make it past the battle. She killed Clawstripe, saving both RiverClan and ShadowClan from moons of torture under the rule of such an ambitious cat. But her after their battle, her wounds were too severe…and she went on to join the ranks of StarClan where her pelt would shine forevermore." _

"She died?" Beechkit cried, and Speckledsand stepped in to speak before Twistedface could supply an explanation, "she sacrificed herself for the good of the clans and because of that, she will always be honored by all cats-both those who walk to land and skies."

Aspenkit and Cloudkit, who were satisfied with such an ending bounded to greet their father after a quick, "good-bye" to the elders. "Thank you, I understand," Beechkit mewed solemnly, dipping her head in a gesture of gratitude before reluctantly joining her littermates.

The camp came to life with the return of the small patrol, and the elders sat back in a warm place beneath the growing shade away from the commotion.

"Hmm, strange how there can be more than one version of the same story, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you mean, Speckledsand," Twistedface meowed brazenly, pushing herself up out of the dust with shaky limbs.

"I remember Shiningfaith's story a little differently…is my memory playing tricks on me, or didn't he rake his claws across her face until it was formless? I think you left out the part about her surviving the battle."

Twistedface snuck a forlorn glance in Speckledsand's direction before averting her gaze to reply, "You must be mistaken. Shiningfaith died that night."

"What about having to bury her best friend only to be exiled from RiverClan by a leader who was very pregnant with her deputy's kits? There was also that bit where she returned moons later and asked for forgiveness …you might have left out the part where she receives a new name as a punishment associated with being accepted back-"

"I'm tired, Speckledsand!" the white she-cat snapped. Her eyes softened as the look of surprise registered on her companion's face, she meowed gingerly, "I'm sorry…I think I should retire early this evening."

With that, the old ginger tom watched his former mentor disappear beneath the bramble of their quaint den. Speckledsand sighed and looked out at the camp, a rose-colored refuge dimly glowing in the dying light of dusk. "Good night," he called softly, refusing to call her by that disgusting name.

"Good night," he murmured once more, close to a whisper this time, his pale eyes dull and his heart heavy with grief. He knew that the other clan cats would never understand her as he did. They would never see past her scar-splattered pelt or distorted muzzle or empty eye socket. They would only ever see the mangled silhouette of an aging cat, but to him she would always be his Shiningfaith.


	3. The Real Kittypet Challenge

**Author's Note:**

This story was written for the Real Kittypet Challenge (posted by the Warrior Challenge Forum) and the goal was to write a story based on an assigned kittypet character who was inspried by a real-life horse. The challenges just keep getting better every time, once again-I highly recommend trying them out!

(.net/topic/106930/60126369/1/-the link, if you're interested)

Wow, so I had no idea that this would be so long when I first began writing the story...I'm sorry for both the length and the rushed ending, I was afraid of dragging the story out longer than I already had :p

Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you enjoy the story! Any and all feedback is appreciated =]

Apologetically yours,

AL

* * *

_The delicately sweet odor flooded his nostrils while the warm downy fur tickled his nose. He sneezed, mighty as a lion, and his small body was propelled backward. With a gentle and encouraging tap to his rear end with the tip of her tail, his mother coaxed him back into place with his littermates. He snuggled up against her feathery belly contently, not to suckle, but to feel like he belonged to something greater than himself-to brush up against his wriggling littermates and breathe in his mother's scent, and feel like a whole rather than just another part. And in that moment he was whole-and warm and loved. _

Pale pink blossoms quivered against the sandy shore, ruffled by the breeze. It was a serene morning, and the sky was bright with the promise of another scorching day. The young tom breathed in deep, and his lungs filled with the crisp air of Green-Leaf. He gazed out at the land that was slowly coming to life with the rising sun- the land that he had come to call his home.

_Warm and loved, that was what he felt he would always be. Snuggled in the blankets, curled up against the sprawled body of his female twoleg, Jack was utterly content. He could feel the rhythm of his sleeping twoleg's body as it rose and fell, just as his body rose and fell, with every breath. The twolegs were good to him. They fed him, and cared for him, and through them he felt the same affection that his mother had once provided. He felt like a whole. _

_Jack gently brushed his tail back and forth across the blankets, matching the steady rhythm of her synced breathing. He closed his eyes and an earnest kitten purr rumbled deep within his throat. Life was well, he decided, life was well._

The river glimmered, incandescent under the escalating sun. The hardened pads of his paws faintly skimmed over the compact sand as he followed the curve of the water's twisting bank. His muscles tingled with the familiar warmth of a beautiful day, and both the river and reeds harbored the sounds of stirring life.

He flicked his ears and listened quietly to the subtle splash of fish as their silver bodies peeked up from out of the stream before diving back under, to the light smack of the water lapping at the sand, to the ruffling of settling feathers and the scurrying of the freshly awoken. He continued down the stream, listening and watching and reminiscing...and most of all, anticipating what was to come.

_Jack had decided that his life was flawless. He had decided that things just could not get any better, but that was where Jack was wrong. As his limbs grew and his downy coat shed, the young tom found himself enjoying a freedom that allowed his heart to soar. His twolegs began with chaperoning him around the yard as he placed a hesitant paw upon the luscious grass, and then another, enthusiastically testing the soft green spread beneath his paws. Soon he could weave through the thicket, and kick up the fallen pine needles with his churning back legs. Soon he could dig his claws into the thick bark of the towering trees and sometimes he could manage to force a deep golden sap from their trunks. _

_It was there-out among the eclectic aggregation of maples and oaks and pines that he felt true freedom. It was there that he was no longer a whole of somebody else, but of his own self. Within a few moons he had explored the small forest of property that belonged to his twolegs, and he knew every leaf and stone, and it was his. A thin flap allowed him access in and out of the den, whenever he pleased, and his days were spent racing through the undergrowth. _

_Jack never fully understood his small forest. It was only he and his twolegs living there-no other cats or animals, although on occasion his twolegs would fill the yard with more twolegs and they would thunder around and be loud and merry and Jack would be merry because so were they. He never fully grasped why he had such a space all to himself, but then he never really cared. Jack would race up the trees and daringly balance upon the thinnest, flimsiest branch before flinging himself onto the next-leaping through the tree tops with the graceful agility of a seasoned bird. _

_As Jack matured and became seasoned as well, he noticed a shift in the balance of his overwhelmingly exceptional life. The change was slight at first. One day he would saunter in from outside for a quick bowl of fresh tuna and his twoleg's greeting would be one of false enthusiasm. The next day there would be no attempted enthusiasm at all. Some days he found fake excitement and attempted affection, but the way his twoleg's eyes would light up with joy at the mere sight of him had vanished all together. _

_Jack was never wounded, only disappointed. _She needs me, _he reasoned, _she is troubled by something else. _And she was. The older twolegs-she was their kit, he presumed-of his den grew louder, but not merrier. Their volumes were angry, vicious volumes and often times the black tom sought for cover whenever the older ones fell into a bought of agitation. Things were still okay, but balance was slipping. Jack's twoleg increased in her inattentiveness toward him. She forgot to let him sleep with her, and he would curl up against the opposite side of the wall, separated from where she lay, and wait for morning to come. She would always leave a bowl of something fresh out for him to find, but she would never wait by it and stroke his pelt as he wolfed it down anymore. _

_The angrier the den became, the further she distanced herself, and the more Jack's beautiful reality-his forest included, began to melt away. His land grew old and tired, just as the elder twolegs did. The luscious grass of his kit-hood had turned to a field of stubbly golden straw. The undergrowth and thickets which had always been reasonably tame had grown tenfold, and the thorns tore at his flank if he were not careful. The stream where he once indulged in a drink or two had dried, and things were not bad-they just were not the same. _

_Jack spent more time in his decaying little forest, finding nooks in trees and crevices and secret places that he had never seen before. He grew to prefer his nights outside, in the warm comfort of a tree hole. There he enjoyed the gentle breeze and soothing sounds of a quiet night, and he felt free, and he was content, but he was devoid of the love that had always been present in his life-and for the first time, he felt alone. _

_It was a day where his den was particularly agitated, and for the first time Jack had been _put_ outside. Involuntarily. _Put. _The lanky black tom mulled over the bizarre occurrence, bewildered (and a tad bit spiteful) by what had happened. He had been placed outside. He had never been placed outside-not since his twolegs first introduced him into his small forest. He had always gone outside when he wanted to, and this time he had not wanted to…they _put _him there. Troubled and confused, Jack took off under the thicket and scrambled through the trees. He raced past the settling fog and weaved through the woods until his lungs cried for a rest and his paws tingled with an oncoming soreness. _

_His chest heaved up and down as he gasped to take in lungfuls of the chilled air. He glanced back through his forest and saw nothing but trees. He had gone to a place he seldom went to-close to the fence that bordered his small forest and far from his den. Jack glanced next at the graying sky. He could only make out bits of blackened clouds through the thin, misty layer of fog that had descended upon him._

_Exhausted and distraught, he sank his claws into a massive oak tree and scrambled up into a nook near the top of its trunk. The air was frigid, but the tree was warm and the nook lined with nettles and moss. He sighed deeply and stared out at the silhouettes shrouded by fog. The first raindrop fell upon his tree and rode down the scraggly bark until it landed on the tip of his black nose. His nerves jolted in surprise as ice ran through his veins. Jack curled up tighter and tucked his nose beneath the tip of his tail. Then, he closed his eyes and listened to the gentle patter of the falling raining as he tried to fall asleep. _

He had been pampered. He had struggled. He had loved and hated and _been _loved and hated. He had come a long way. The closer he got to the camp, the faster his calm began to fade. It was the day that he would plunge into the unknown of a new life-the day that would indelibly change him forever. The time had finally come where he would become who he was always meant to be-the cat who had been lying dormant deep within him, waiting to surface at the peak of his existence.

He slowed his pace. The morning was young and the camp could wait, for his heart needed to prepare for the oncoming storm of anxiety that he felt brewing in his paws.

_Jack remembered very little of the last few times he spent with his twolegs. He remembered that stormy afternoon, waking up to a pale gray light and a clouded sky. The rain had ceased but the air had grown colder, and the oak had failed to completely protect him from the storm's icy sting. His fur was damp and his paws ached from his trek the day before. Tired and heavy with the sadness of change, Jack slipped out of the nook that had been sheltering in. His limbs were stiff. He tried to shake the water from his pelt but the tree was slick and the branches flimsy. _

_He decided to wait until he had reached the ground. He remembered slowly easing his way down the bark, dark and plump with rain water. Each time his claws sunk into the tree, water would ooze from its crevices. He remembered the dry taste in his mouth, and the strange calm that he felt navigating his way down to the ground. He remembered the way his heart leapt when the claws of his hind leg failed to latch into the bark and merely scraped its surface instead. He remembered the panic that ensued as his front claws slipped, unable to support his dangling hind legs that were scrambling to regain their grip on the trunk._

_Jack only vaguely remembered the fall. There was pain. A lot of pain-more than he had ever before experienced. He had no memory of his body smacking into the branches on the way down, or going limp by the time his leg slammed into the fourth one. He was unconscious by the time he lied crumpled on the floor of his small forest, twisted and distorted and full of pain. _

_He remembered the flashing lights, the caustic smells. He could sometimes recall his female twoleg visiting him. For a couple of sunrises his twolegs visited him. He wanted to fight the sheer white walls and the flashing lights and the caustic smells. He wanted to break free and run to the borders of his small forest and leap through the trees and feel his heart become elated with freedom. But he couldn't. He could hardly breathe._

"_It's only your leg," she would reassure him gently, "the rest of you is fine, you'll be okay."_

"_This isn't okay," he replied sullenly, his once exuberant green eyes dull and shifted downward. _

_He could feel the she-cat shift her weight on the table beside him, but he refused to look up. "You'll be okay," she coaxed, despite his negative mutters. She was the one thing he remembered most about the white den with the flashing lights and the caustic smells. Jack understood why he hadn't left that place. He knew why he was forced to heal among the other sickly creatures rather than in the comfort of his own den. The visits from his twolegs had ceased. He understood that they weren't coming back, and his heart frosted over in the way that often happens when one finds emptiness in the space that love once occupied. _

_Nile was a tiny flicker of warmth on his shattered soul. Unlike the other cats bandaged and trapped in metal, she freely roamed the white den-and not just the back where the healing animals were kept. Sometimes she sat near the place where twolegs entered, or by the windows, or next to the twoleg who was chained to a sleek, silver monster behind a half-wall. She visited each metal cage, and spoke gently and reassuringly to the cats behind the bars-scared, whimpering scraps or big scarred brutes. Despite their appearances or responses, she remained gentle and kind and always reassuring. _

_Nile spent an exceptional amount of time beside Jack's cage. When the twolegs moved him out onto a slab of silver she sat beside him, and when they tampered with his leg she gazed into his eyes and talked him through the pain. And Jack grew stronger. _

_One morning she appeared before him, her blue eyes ablaze with fervor. Jack blinked up at her slender form with sleepy eyes. "It's happening!" she whispered, ecstatic, "they're going to let you walk!"_

_Jack scrambled-or at least attempted to-his paws, but his limp back leg scraped awkwardly against the sides of the cage. A steady influx of pain reminded him of his limits, and he slumped back down before harnessing the strength of his front paws to pull the other half of his body up-right. "How do you know?"_

_Nile shot him an all-knowing look and he shrugged, "oh, right. You have an in with these creatures."_

"_I do not have an '_in'_. This is my place. Just as you once had your place," she reminded him and sat down beside his cage, neatly wrapping her brown-ringed tail around her equally dark paws. "Right," he meowed quietly, leaning in closer to the front bars to catch a whiff of her calming, lavender scent. _

"_I thought you said that I wouldn't be able to put any weight on this leg again…that it wouldn't work anymore. Did something happen?"_

"…_No…the parts that connect your leg to your body tore, and they can't be repaired. That leg will never support you…but you have three others that have healed perfectly well. Once you can start walking regularly, you can join me in the front room. And we can visit the cats together," Nile whispered, always cautious of keeping her favoritism from the other cats. The black tom sighed and rested his head against the cool bars of the cage. Nile shifted her cream-colored body and tenderly pressed her nose to the white splash of fur on his forehead. "You get lonely, surrounded by all of these cats, don't you?" he asked. _

"_Yeah," she murmured. Nile was certainly beautiful-slender with a cream coat and dark paws. Her face was a dark brown too-making it look as though she were wearing a mask. Jack failed to understand why she had chosen him, but he accepted it. She helped ease the pain. _

"_Alright," he meowed and straightened as the twolegs in their mint-colored coats approached. Some called them the vets, others the cutters, but Jack didn't like to think much about them. Nile inched to the side as they opened his cage and scooped him into their arms. He had learned to accept this too, although he did not respond with affection as he had when his former twolegs would hold him. _

_He glanced at Nile before she leapt to the ground and reassuring _her_ for the first time he meowed, "let's learn how to walk."_

He felt that his entire life he had been searching for something more. More than what? He never knew. Just more. More than a provincial life or more than a passing glimpse of the world around him, or perhaps more than just a superficial connection bound by mutual affection. But as he stood erect, his head held high with pride, and gazed at the barriers of stone and bramble that served as the camp's protection, he no longer searched for more.

He had found peace in this new life-where he was free from the ties of a fence, or a cage, free to act upon principles of nobility and bravery-to share connections with others that ran deeper than a love based upon food or mutual protection or forced companionship. With a fluttering heart and light paws, he hobbled on-taking the final steps to a new beginning.

_The pain had sobered Jack in a way not often seen in very young cats. The lanky tom had an air of maturity about him that was rarely found among cats well past their prime let alone one who had barely broken the seal of adulthood. Nile saw this-so did the others. Some new cats came, some old cats left, and with every passing each caught a glimpse of the young black tom hobbling about like a weathered soul. Jack could feel their eyes watching him as he moved freely throughout the sheer white den where the twolegs and their animals came. The twolegs watched him too. Their kits cooed and pointed and often stroked his fur as he wandered by. _

_Jack never paid much mind to any of them; he was polite and civil, but never anything more. Not to anyone but Nile. Sometimes he would catch even her staring at his disfigured leg. Sometimes her blue eyes would wash over the distorted limb in awe, two crystalline pools studying each twist and bump. His leg was never silent. There was always a constant, low hum of pain radiating through his body with every step. It was a pain that he hid behind his green-brown eyes, a pain he did not speak of._

_Along with severing the muscles that bound his leg to his body, the bone of his leg had shattered, and his ankle had twisted. A soft, even layer of downy black fur was beginning to sprout on the patches of flesh the twolegs had shaved off of his leg in order to heal the injuries. Wide, mauve scars raked along his hind right leg like tabby stripes, although Nile insisted they would shrink and pale with time. Tiny mauve scars striped his belly as well, in the places where branches had sliced through his flank as he fell. _

_After a long day of parading his scars and roaming beneath the frequent stares of spectators, he would settle down, exhausted, in a nest of wool. There was no more cage. Jack didn't fully understand the relationship between Nile and the twolegs, but he knew that his newfound freedom was because of her. As the sun fell, the twolegs would prepare the other animals for the night and Nile would slip away to sit with Jack before the twolegs took her to a separate den of their own. _

_Every night, a new question lied heavily in Jack's mind and sometimes Nile didn't have the answer. "Why me?"_

"_Hmm?" she asked sleepily, gently washing her tongue over a patch of wayward fur on his shoulder. _

_Jack flicked his ears and meowed quietly, "why do you care so much about me?"_

_The she-cat's eyes were startlingly blue in the dim light, and they shone with curiosity against her brown-masked face. Nile gave her paw a quick lick and swiped it over her ear, "I…well, you're different."_

_Jack struggled to sit up, his back leg bending awkwardly._

"_How?"_

_Nile let out a deep sigh and pressed her head against the young tom's shoulder, her voice distant and tinged with a tone of melancholy, "you just are. Even though you had nearly died, your eyes were full of love…and even when those twolegs left you…you weren't bitter, you were sad. No one else reacts like that. They're dark and angry…and sullen, but every bad thing just made you stronger. I admire that. But I also see that you're hurting…sometimes…I get a little glance of the pain you carry, and you're always silent about it…all of these things make you different."_

"_Other cats are different too," Jack commented, waiting._

_Nile remained still for a heartbeat, before she murmured, "But I never pitied you."_

_Jack was satisfied with such an answer. He was beginning to understand. With that, he lowered himself back down into his nest and he didn't object when Nile curled up beside him, and he was glad when the twolegs walked past the two cats and turned off the lights, and let them be. _

_Like all other things, his life in the den of sheer white was temporary. Jack admired Nile, he cared for her, felt a type of affection that he had never experienced before but in the back of his mind, he knew that it was temporary. Some nights Nile spent with him, and some nights she was taken by her twolegs, and one night Jack realized that his temporary happiness was starting to unfold. "What…well, what would you think if you came home with me tonight?" the beautiful she-cat asked tentatively._

"_Home? To your twoleg's nest?" Jack sat up, thrown off guard._

_Nile nodded, "I stay here…but you've never been there. What if, maybe, we spent nights there and came back here in the mornings?" _

_Jack sighed, sad with the foreknowledge that this conversation was going to come. "I miss you when I'm there," Nile insisted softly, her quiet meow showing a side of vulnerability which she allowed no others to see. "You know that can't happen. You know how I feel about this place. About them."_

"_I know."_

"_Do you love me, Nile?" _

_Her shady blue eyes met his gaze. He already knew the answer. "I care for you, but Jack, we've talked about this…I can't just leave this place. I can't runaway with you."_

"_I'm not asking you to. And that's the problem, is that I can't ask you to do that. I know you love those creatures…they haven't hurt you yet-"_

"_Don't do that!" the cream-colored she-cat hissed and jumped to her paws. "Don't judge all twolegs just because yours happened to be unkind!"_

"_This is what I mean!" Jack cried, his meow wavering with a mixture of guilt and exhaustion, "I can't stay in this place! You're right, twolegs can be kind, but they can also be cruel. And you're never going to know what you'll get, or what will happen. I'll never actually be free here-you'll never be free here! But out there we make the rules; we live our lives we want to. We could-"_

"_We could what?" Nile retorted sharply, "we could go live up in the trees? And leap from branch to branch like birds? You're going to need wings like a bird if you ever want that dream to come true!"_

_Jack recoiled, hurt by her snide snap. Nile grew rigid with realization as she watched his guard fall. For a brief moment, sorrow sparked in his luminous eyes and Nile relaxed her muscles, her tail drooping with guilt. "I'm sorry," she meowed quietly, averting her gaze._

"_Yeah," Jack muttered, "I know."_

_A twoleg shed its mint-colored coat as it entered the room and spoke to the two cats in an enthusiastic tone. Jack stood stiffly in his nest of wool and met Nile's disdainful gaze as he murmured, "I think I'll stay here tonight, Nile."_

_The twoleg scooped the cream-colored she-cat up into its arms and cooed a 'good-bye' to Jack. Nile held his stare and replied, "I think that would be best" before the twoleg carried her away._

As he entered the camp, the scent of fresh-kill flooded his nostrils. He caught a glimpse of a group of cats dropping their catches in the pile, having just returned from hunting. The RiverClan camp was teeming with life as drowsy cats shared tongues in the comfort of the shade, or sparred, or laughed. The day was hot but the clan was bursting with energy.

His heart swelled with happiness and he almost forgot about what was to come, until the familiar yowl of a tawny she-cat rang throughout the camp:

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the Telling Stone, the time has come for us to accept a new warrior into the ranks of RiverClan."

_The next morning Nile showed Jack a way out of the white den. He slipped beneath a bush, sharing but a passing glance with the beautiful she-cat before she quickly fled back inside. Neither of them said a word. Jack spent sunrises navigating his way through never ending rows of twoleg dens and rough paths made of black rock. There were dogs, and twoleg kits, and roaring monsters, each more alarming than the last. He scavenged from shining bins that reeked of decay and hobbled on, and all the while he thought of Nile…and his twolegs and his mother. _

_It was there, while sifting for his supper and reflecting upon life that he was caught off guard. "That is gross! What are you thinking?"_

_Jack jumped, startled, and lifted his head from the mass of rotting food. The white patch of fur on his forehead was crusted with a deep golden substance and layered a pale brown as a result of grime. He blinked and after a moment, regained his composure. A tiny orange tom stood beside the shining bin, his coat enormously puffed out and his amber eyes shining with authority. _

"_Swag? Where have you…? Oh!" _

_Jack froze as a larger dark ginger tabby padded up beside the kit. Embarrassed, he could hardly operate in front of the two toms. Seymour and Swagger, father and son, loners, they had explained. The two ginger toms took him in and taught him their ways-how to hunt (to the best of his ability), and to fight, and to forage. They shared their lives with him, and the part of Jack which had vanished when he left the white den began to return. _

_They lived in an abandoned fox hole beside a stream, a ways off from the bustle of the cluster of twoleg dens. "Be careful of how far you wander," Seymour had warned, "the deeper into the woods you go, the more surprises you might find."_

"_What does that mean?" Jack inquired._

"_Wild cats!" Swagger squealed and flashed his tiny teeth in an attempt to look ferocious. "Wild cats live everywhere-a lot of them live in the trees-like the pinewoods and the forest and stuff. Others are on the moors, and then there are some by the big river, but they are all around the lake."_

_Jack took the kit's description of the vicious, feral beasts lightly. Although he kept his distance from the lake due to a combination of respect for Seymour and the overwhelming scents of other cats. But once while exploring he came across the river. The stream by which they camped was a branch of the larger waterway, and Jack had been curious as to where it led. That's where he first saw her. _

_She was poised gently, crouched by the water's edge. Jack's heart skipped a beat and his paws locked into place. She was a dainty brown tabby, her legs and sides rimmed with stripes of pale brown, and two distinctive darker stripes stretched from the corner of her eyes to the beginning of her neck, where they then faded. Her amber eyes, rimmed with gold, slowly lifted from the water and met his gaze. _

_She didn't flinch away, or shift uncomfortably, or question who he was. She remained crouched by the water, and he remained standing on the opposite side of the river bed, and the two gazed at one another for a very long time. And Jack felt whole. _

"Jack, I ask that you join me up on the Telling Stone," Tanglestar meowed, beckoning him with a flick of her tail. Jack dipped his head respectfully and skillfully climbed up onto the large stone, careful to show no sign of struggle to his new clanmates, careful to prove that his leg was an obstacle that he had overcome. As he padded across the smooth gray surface to join his leader, he scanned the crowd of cats that sat diligently before him.

It had been difficult for him to leave Seymour and Swagger, the very cats who had taken him in and mentored him, but his heart had been enticed by a high calling. The found a pair of familiar amber eyes, rimmed with gold. They shone with love and pride and an earnest kitten purr rumbled deep within his throat. Otterlight was the one who ultimately convinced him to join the clan, and after moons of reluctance and proving himself, moons of trials and errors and coming to love each and every RiverClan cat as though they were family, his day had finally come.

He faced Tanglestar with his head held high. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a little tabby tom wriggling with excitement beside his mother. The kit had a single white paw on his left hind leg, just like his father. Jack was overwhelmed with hope at the sight of his son, Tricklekit, who knew nothing but trust and pride for his father. He thought of his mother, and his twolegs…and Nile, and Seymour, and Swagger…and all of the things that had brought him to the RiverClan camp-of Otterlight and Tricklekit, and in that moment he felt fearless and whole.

"Jack, you have spent many seasons with our clan, and over the past moons, time and time again, you have proven yours skills and dedication as a warrior. We, the cats of RiverClan, have come to view you as a member of our family and the time has come for me to ask of you, Jack, are you ready to become a warrior of RiverClan?"

"Yes."

"Do you promise to serve this clan with your life and always uphold the warrior code?"

"Yes, I do."

No, his leg was never silent. Not even after countless moons had passed, but that no longer mattered to him anymore. Jack met Tanglestar's warm gaze, in every way prepared to accept the responsibilities that his new title would bring.

"Very well," the RiverClan leader replied, "then by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Jack, from this moment on you will be known as Fallenshadow. StarClan honors your loyalty and dedication to RiverClan."

Tanglestar pressed her muzzle to the tom's flank and he gave her shoulder a respectful lick in return as his clanmates cried, "Fallenshadow! Fallenshadow!"

Fallenshadow eased his way down the Telling Stone, numb with joy. Otterlight joined him at the base of the stone. She pressed her dainty tabby body against his and murmured playfully in his ear, "welcome to RiverClan."


End file.
